Office-indicator



(NoMddeL) H. T. COOMBS.

OFFICE INDICATOR. v No. 532,362. Patented Jan. 8, 1895.

PATENT FFICE.

HENRY T. COOMBS, on CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

OFFICE-INDIQATOR..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,362, dated January8, 1895, Application filed October 6,1894. Serial No.'525,059- (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, I-IENRx T. CooMBs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Concord, in the county of Merrimac and State of NewHampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDoor-Notices;

- and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as-will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to cases for contain ing and posting notices orannouncements to be placed upon the outside of a door, the object beingto provide for the use of business or professional men a case to befastened to the outside oftheir door containing a series ofannouncements, any of which may be exposed to the view of customers bymanipulation inside of the door, but not capable of being changed or inany way tampered with on the outside of a door.

The invention consists of a suitable case adapted for attachment to adoor, said case having an opening in its front and contain ing acylinder upon which the desired notices may be printed, and means forrotating the cylinder from the inside of the door for exposing a givennotice through the front opening in said case, all of which will befully explained in the following specification and claims, and clearlyillustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of the same, ofwhich- Figure 1, is a cross-sectional elevation showing a portion of adoor and my improvements attached. Fig. 2, is a front elevation of myimproved device as when attached to a door, the latter being in brokenelevation. Fig. 3,

is an enlarged detached view of the notice or announcement cylinder andits operating mechanism. Fig. 4, is another view of those parts shown inFig. 3. Fig. 5, is a broken elevation showing a portion of the cylinderon same scale as are the two previous views, and

a modification of the operating mechanism.

Similar letters of reference denote corre-. sponding parts.

A, is a portion of an ordinary door, and B is a case for inclosing myimproved rotative announcement cylinder 0, upon which will be placedvarious notices such for instance as Out of Town, Return Soon, At Home,or fAt Lunch; said .notices being readily seen through an opening b,made for this purpose in the case B, as shown in Fig.

2; said case being secured by screws to the outside of a door.

The journals 0, of the cylinder 0, are preferably mounted in yieldingbearings which in' the drawings are formed at one end of a spring wirearm D, secured by the screw b, to the case B, or to a block forming partof the case as shown, and in event of the cylinder being made as shownin the drawings-+- octa-gonal or having any number of flat planesuponits periphery,-the yielding bearings are a necessity.

The cylinder may be rotated on the inside ofa room bya spindle H, whichpasses through the door and into the case B, and is provided at one endwith an operating knob I, and at that end within the case B, saidspindle may be connected by bevel gears J-K, to one of the journals ofthe cylinder as seen in Fig. 5, or, one of the journals 0, may beprovided with a suitable winding drum E and connected with a windingdrum F, on the spin: dle H, by the cords ee as seen in Figs. 1, 3, and4; one end of each cord being attached to one drum and their oppositeends to the other drum, in such manner as to cause one cord to wind uponone drum, and the other cord upon the. other drum, by rotating thespindle in either direction.

I) is a bearing block for one end of the spindle, as seen in Fig. 1, andX, is a piece of glass which may be inserted so as to cover the openingb,inthe front of the case to exclude dust and also to provide a smoothsurface against which the cylinder 0, may bear.

Having described my improvements, what I claim is- 1. A case forattachment to a door having a slot or opening in its front, a cylindermounted upon spring-actuated bearings in said case and having upon itsperiphery various announcements each adapted to register with theopening in said case, a horizontal spindle extending from said case tothe opposite side of said door, and operating mechanism connecting thespindle with said cylinr der, all arranged for the purpose of preventingthe manipulation of the announcements by persons outside said door.

2. In adjustable notices for doors, a case adapted for attachment to theoutside of a door having a slot or opening in its front and a glasscovering for the same, a rotative cylinder mounted upon spring-actuatedbearings and carrying various notices each adapted to register with saidopening in the case, and suitable means comprising a horizontal spindlefor rotating said cylinder from the opposite side of the door,substantially for the purpose set forth.

3. In adjustable notices for doors, the combination of a rotativecylinder whose cross section is polygonal for the purpose of placing thenotices upon flat surfaces, a suitable case for inclosing the sameadapted for attachment to the outside of a door, said case having a slotor opening in its front for exposing a notice upon the cylinder, saidcylinder having journals mounted in spring-actuated bearings formaintaining contact with the opening in said case, and means whereby thecylinder shall be rotated and set as desired only from the inner side ofthe door, substantially for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY 'I. COOMBS.

Witnesses:

J. B. THURsToN, 0. G. REMIOK.

